Ruth Lowry
May 2021
Ruth
Lowery
,
RN
Transitional Care Unit
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Leeds
,
West Yorkshire
United Kingdom
Thanks to Ruth, B has had the best possible start that she could have and continues to enjoy all the benefits of breastfeeding.
Our baby B was born after a tricky pregnancy, ahead of schedule, and by emergency C-Section. She did not establish feeding well on her first day of life and was admitted to NICU (LGI) needing IV glucose, and then expressed breast milk by nasogastric tube. After a worrying few days, she could keep her sugars stable on the NG feeds, and we were transferred to Transitional Care.
Our lowest point was a day or so after the transfer to Transitional Care, when B was under a UV lamp for jaundice, very sleepy and unresponsive, not breastfeeding or accepting EBM from a bottle, relying on the NG feeds. She was also being investigated for possible genetic abnormalities and we didn't know what our future held. We went for a walk (the first time I'd been out of the hospital in over a week) and ended up crying in the car park, in the dark and the rain.
That night Ruth came on shift for the first time in our stay and everything changed. B's bilirubin levels dropped enough to come out from under the lamp and she could be dressed. Ruth promised us that we would get B breastfeeding and home soon. After observing yet another failed to breastfeed, Ruth made the suggestion of using a nipple shield, (at one stage it was suggested that we might need to learn how to use the NG tube and B would be discharged on that, or on EBM in bottles, which would have been very difficult to sustain). She brought a nipple shield to try. For the first time, at over a week old, B managed a full breastfeed. Ruth oversaw the gradual withdrawal of the NG feeds, and establishment of exclusive breastfeeding. As B started to steadily regain weight, we were discharged, after nearly two weeks in hospital - 6 wards, and two hospitals.
After a few weeks, we were able to wean B off the nipple shields and I am delighted to say that now, at 14 months old, she is still breastfeeding (enthusiastically so!) When I was pregnant, I was determined that my baby would breastfeed. But if it were not for Ruth's support and equally determined attitude, I am not sure we would have managed it, given all the other issues that were also going on. Thanks to Ruth, B has had the best possible start that she could have and continues to enjoy all the benefits of breastfeeding. We are so grateful to her.
Our lowest point was a day or so after the transfer to Transitional Care, when B was under a UV lamp for jaundice, very sleepy and unresponsive, not breastfeeding or accepting EBM from a bottle, relying on the NG feeds. She was also being investigated for possible genetic abnormalities and we didn't know what our future held. We went for a walk (the first time I'd been out of the hospital in over a week) and ended up crying in the car park, in the dark and the rain.
That night Ruth came on shift for the first time in our stay and everything changed. B's bilirubin levels dropped enough to come out from under the lamp and she could be dressed. Ruth promised us that we would get B breastfeeding and home soon. After observing yet another failed to breastfeed, Ruth made the suggestion of using a nipple shield, (at one stage it was suggested that we might need to learn how to use the NG tube and B would be discharged on that, or on EBM in bottles, which would have been very difficult to sustain). She brought a nipple shield to try. For the first time, at over a week old, B managed a full breastfeed. Ruth oversaw the gradual withdrawal of the NG feeds, and establishment of exclusive breastfeeding. As B started to steadily regain weight, we were discharged, after nearly two weeks in hospital - 6 wards, and two hospitals.
After a few weeks, we were able to wean B off the nipple shields and I am delighted to say that now, at 14 months old, she is still breastfeeding (enthusiastically so!) When I was pregnant, I was determined that my baby would breastfeed. But if it were not for Ruth's support and equally determined attitude, I am not sure we would have managed it, given all the other issues that were also going on. Thanks to Ruth, B has had the best possible start that she could have and continues to enjoy all the benefits of breastfeeding. We are so grateful to her.